IT Folks, Here’s Another Potential Headache for You

More often than not employees engage in some BYOD behavior for work use — despite policies designed to prevent the practice, according to a recent survey by CTIA-The Wireless Association.

While only 30 percent of consumers were very or somewhat familiar with BYOD, or bring your own device, 47 percent had never heard of it, according to the survey. Yet the numbers for IT professionals were more modest than expected, with 55 percent who were very or somewhat familiar. Meanwhile, 26 percent admitted they had never heard of it, the survey said.

Despite unfamiliarity with the term, when told the definition, more than half of users said they engaged in some sort of BYOD behavior.

While the percentages varied, the top five information or applications used by employees were email, calendar and scheduling, databases, company apps and directories, the survey said. Users and IT decision makers’ answers varied on a number of questions in the survey, but there were several areas of agreement, as 47 percent of users said there was no formal policy at their office, which closely matched up with the 42 percent of IT experts who said there wasn’t one.

Moreover, employees trust their IT departments, according to the survey, with 83 percent saying their smartphones are very or somewhat secure. The figure climbed to 85 percent for tablets.

The IT professionals were less optimistic, but still confident in their security efforts for smartphones (68 percent) and tablets (70 percent).

When it comes to whose responsibility it is to keep the devices secure, both users (82 percent) and IT professionals (67 percent) say it’s the user’s primary duty, the survey said. Regardless of a company’s size, both companies with less than 500 (72 percent) or 500 or more employees (62 percent) said it’s the employee’s responsibility.

When asked what steps they have taken to protect their mobile devices, consumers say they have installed or used software updates (63 percent); password/PINs (58 percent); anti-virus programs (43 percent); location tracking (38 percent); and an app to remote lock, locate and/or erase data (34 percent).

When asked what the IT department has done to protect the devices, users say they have installed or used password/PINs (34 percent); anti-virus programs (28 percent); software updates (26 percent); restrict downloads (25 percent); and restrict access to certain employees (22 percent). This is similar to what IT professionals say they have installed or used: password/PINs (46 percent); anti-virus programs (38 percent); network certificates (37 percent); VPNs (31 percent) and restrict access to certain employees (31 percent).